Bloomberg's 2008 Proposal
New York's proposal cites comparable congestion pricing programs in London, Singapore and Stockholm. New York City's program is proposed to be a three-year pilot program, at the end of which the City and State would decide if the program should be made permanent. When final legislative approval is given, the program could be put into effect within 18 months.
As proposed, the congestion pricing zone is defined as the island of Manhattan (bordered by the East and Hudson Rivers) south of 60th Street (originally 86th Street but changed after the commission's recommendation released on January 10, 2008.) Exempted roadways within the zone include the FDR Drive, New York Route 9A (West Side Highway and Henry Hudson Parkway included), the Battery Park Underpass, and the East River bridges (Queensboro Bridge, Williamsburg Bridge, Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge) and their approaches. A free route from the East River bridges to the FDR Drive and from the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels to Route 9A would be designated. Drivers who use toll crossings to or from the zone (e.g. Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and Queens-Midtown Tunnel) would be charged the difference between the toll and the congestion charge.
The charge would apply on weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Proposed fees would be $8 for cars and commercial vehicles and $21 for trucks entering from outside the zone. Transit buses, emergency vehicles, taxis and for-hire vehicles, and vehicles with handicapped license plates would not be charged the fee. Taxi and livery trips that begin, end or touch the zone would have a $1 surcharge. Vehicles would be charged only once per day.
Operations for monitoring vehicles within the congestion zone will be barrier-free and includes E-ZPass transponders and a license plate recognition system that involves cameras. The system for monitoring congestion pricing will be made separate from existing red-light camera systems. Drivers would be able to pay by a debit from their E-ZPass account or a debit from a pre-paid non-EZPass account linked to the vehicle's license plate number. For drivers without traffic payment accounts, they would have 48 hours to pay via phone, the Internet, text messaging, or cash transactions at participating retailers.
The accelerated MTA Capital Plan for 2008-2013 details transit investments that revenue from congestion pricing would pay for. These include 44 subway station rehabilitations, increased bus service, new Bus Rapid Transit service in all 5 boroughs,$40 million for suburban park and ride facilities, MetroNorth and LIRR station rehabilitations, third track work, East Side Access, Second Avenue Subway, and Fulton Street Transit Center, to name a few.
In addition to charging drivers, there have been additional proposals to further reduce traffic. One proposal from Sam Schwartz recommends removing tolls from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to encourage trucks en route from Long Island to New Jersey to use Interstate 278 through Staten Island and over a proposed twin-span Goethals Bridge, as opposed to using the now toll-free route via the Manhattan Bridge, congesting Manhattan's local streets, and out the Lincoln or Holland Tunnels. Furthermore, he suggests that government parking passes be limited; the number of taxis be reduced dramatically; and the Belt Parkway be redesigned to allow commercial traffic to reduce congestion on Brooklyn's local streets.
Read more about this topic: New York Congestion Pricing